The Politics of Abortion and Birth Control in Historical Perspective

Edited by Donald T. Critchlow

The Politics of Abortion and Birth Control in Historical Perspective

Edited by Donald T. Critchlow

While there is extensive literature on the social history, politics, and legal aspects of birth control and abortion in the United States, the history of family planning as a policy remains to be fully recorded. This volume is intended to contribute to this history by examining birth control and abortion within a larger cultural, policy, and comparative framework. The essays contained in this volume represent a variety of perspectives and scholarly interests. In many instances the authors differ with each other as well as with the editor on fundamental points of historical interpretation. They all, however, share a commitment to study the politics of population within a scholarly framework that emphasizes the importance of policy history for understanding past and contemporary problems.

Description

Bio

Table of Contents

Subjects

While there is extensive literature on the social history, politics, and legal aspects of birth control and abortion in the United States, the history of family planning as a policy remains to be fully recorded. This volume is intended to contribute to this history by examining birth control and abortion within a larger cultural, policy, and comparative framework. The essays contained in this volume represent a variety of perspectives and scholarly interests. In many instances the authors differ with each other as well as with the editor on fundamental points of historical interpretation. They all, however, share a commitment to study the politics of population within a scholarly framework that emphasizes the importance of policy history for understanding past and contemporary problems.

Donald T. Critchlow is Professor of History at Saint Louis University and the author of The Brookings Institution, 1916–1952: Expertise and the Public Interest in a Democratic Society (1985), as well as the editor of five other books.

Contents

1. Birth Control, Population Control, and Family Planning: An Overview

Donald T. Critchlow

2. The Birth-Control Movement Before Roe v. Wade

James W. Reed

3. "Sound Law and Undoubtedly Good Policy": Roe v. Wade in Comparative Perspective

Ian Mylchreest

4. World Population Growth, Family Planning, and American Foreign Policy